Highlights from our Fiscal Year 2025

At the Neighborhood Design Center, we believe everyone deserves access to safe, vibrant, and healthy spaces—and that the built environment should reflect the wisdom and needs of the people who live there.

This year, we took a closer look at how community design can catalyze transformation and equity in the built environment. The highlights that follow demonstrate what this looks like in practice—stories of design in action, community voices amplified, and systems shifted toward greater equity.

Convening our Network for Systems-Level Impact

We believe that when planners, designers, funders, municipal leaders, and other cross-sector partners come together, they strengthen the local sector and advance collective capacities to implement successful projects.

This year, we brought that belief to life. We hosted field-building experiences and events designed to strengthen the skills, practice, and justice-minded approach of planners, designers, and other practitioners — while connecting them with funders, municipal leaders, and cross-sector partners across our region.

Our most ambitious effort was the launch of our inaugural placemaking and placekeeping conference, The Vision is Yours, held June 5–6, 2025 in Mount Rainier, Maryland, hosted in deep partnership with Joe’s Movement Emporium, Maryland-National Capital Parks & Planning Commission, LISC, University of Maryland, and the Prince George’s County Arts and Humanities Council.

By building these connections, we help the networks that support communities become more coordinated, more responsive, and more accountable to local priorities.

The Vision is Yours

The conference drew 203 attendees from across Maryland, hosted 22 workshops and panels featuring 70+ speakers, and implemented 3 local projects during the conference.

Explore the recap

New Office Location

The conference also marked our move to a storefront office in Mount Rainier, creating a visible, welcoming space that reflects our deep roots and long-standing partnerships in the community.

Community Design in Action

We believe community design is a uniquely effective tool. By sparking collaboration and creating participatory spaces rooted in support, connection, and mutual respect, we’ve helped neighbors transform vacant lots into welcoming green spaces, reimagine aging facilities for accessibility and pride, and turn community-powered research into public storytelling that advances justice – building solutions and relationships with lasting impact.

In Fiscal Year 2025, our projects included:

Mill Hill Vacant Lot

Channeled resident input to transform the Mill Hill Vacant Lot into a welcoming green space with gardens, art spaces, and flexible gathering areas.

See the design

Village Learning Place

Helped Village Learning Place, an independent nonprofit library, envision how to best optimize its space for expanded programming.

Learn more

W. North Ave Revitalization

Partnered with Coppin Heights CDC to develop a neighborhood placemaking plan that articulates community visions for public art, greening, and pedestrian safety.

Learn more

New Horizons

Reimagined an aging workshop at New Horizons space for adults with disabilities into a more accessible, flexible, and welcoming environment.

Learn more

SBCLT Toxic Overburden Exhibition

Collaborated with youth from South Baltimore Community Land Trust to transform environmental justice research into a powerful public exhibition at The Peale.

See the Recap

And so much more. By the numbers, we:

Supported 189 projects across Maryland with Community Design Services
Directed 82% of those projects to low-to-moderate income communities
Leveraged 78 volunteers to provide $175,570 in professional design services to neighborhoods across the state

Building Capacity at Every Step

We’ve seen firsthand that when communities have access to the knowledge, resources, and relationships needed to shape their public spaces, neighborhoods historically excluded from decision-making can take real ownership of their future. That’s why in 2025, we:

Launched a 3-year AmeriCorps VISTA project to identify what community partners truly need to succeed, and to build tools and relationships to bridge those gaps.